my dog has black eye gunk, red eye corners

[greyhoundlover]

Hi. My name is Melissa and this is the first time I have posted here. I have two of the sweetest greyhounds you could ever meet, ages 3 and 5. We adopted our most recent addition in July, and he has always had lots of black eye gunk in his eyes, and the corners of his eyes themselves are very red. The whites of his eyes are not red. I had him on a raw diet for several months but recently switched him to Canidae, which has no grains or corn, and he's had less problems with his ears. It took forever and lots of different medications from the vet to get him over the ear infection (with yucky brown ear gunk) that he came with. When we first got him, I asked about his eyes, got some drops from the vet, used the whole bottle even though it didn't help, and was told it was probably allergies. I'm worried it could be something else, but before I go to the vet looking like the dog hypochondriac that I am, any opinions would be welcome. Thanks.

[Dr Lee]

Welcome to the forum! It is great to have you here.

Is there a way of posting a picture or two of the eyes?

A few questions? Are the corners always red or just sometimes? Are the eyes itchy? Is there sneezing? Do just the corners get red or any other part?

Again, welcome to the forum.

[greyhoundlover]

Thank you so much for the kind welcome. It's great to have this resource, especially when the vet's closed. I'm sorry I can't post pictures - maybe when my 15 year old gets home, she'll show me where she hides her camera To answer your questions, the corners of his eyes are always red and watery. He doesn't have alot of white around his corneas, but there is a little bit of redness on the inside, near the corners. I can't tell if there's redness on the upper eyelid rim or not - maybe a little. He doesn't sneeze or scratch his eyes that I notice, but he does take an antihistamine 2x a day (4mg chlorpheniramine). The vet said he prob. has allergies, and I give that to our other grey, so the thought was, why not give it to him too. It's hard to tell if the tears are reddish, the kind that white poodles get, because he is a dark brindle color. They do seem to stain his fur a bit. The main thing is the black eye gunk that I clean out about 2-3 times a day. First it's grey slimy stuff, then it accumulates into this hard black gunk. I have thought about trying "Angel Tears" for a couple of weeks, but it's expensive. It seems like it's only used on white dogs.

[greyhoundlover]

Hi Dr. Lee,

I took some good pictures tonight but then realized I don't have attachment posting priviledges. Maybe my last post gives a mental picture. If there's another way I can post besides using an outside website with links (don't know how to do that), just let me know. Thanks so much.

Melissa

[growler~GateKeeper]

greyhoundlover you can send Marko the site Admin a private message to ask for pic post privlages sooner

I'm certainly interested to see what this looks like & hear what Dr. Lee thinks as my Dal x Lab also had grey goopies in his eyes, this was before I knew about food allergies in dogs & I wonder if it is similar

[greyhoundlover]

Originally Posted by Dr Lee

Is there a way of posting a picture or two of the eyes?

I finally figured out how to post pictures, thanks to Marko.

[Dr Lee]

Nice pictures! (If you have time, I would love to see the rest of her face - see looks like a sweetie!!

From what you are describing, her history and the pictures, I would agree with your veterinarian's previous concern of allergies. Often when we are treating and managing allergies, there is still some degree of allergic signs occurring. The inside (medial) aspect of the eyelid appears to be red (erythemic) and there appears to be a brown mucoid discharge. This inflammation may be seen with a variety of conditions, but allergies would be top on the list.

Options? Well, if it is not bothering her and the signs do not worsen (green or yellow discharge instead of brown, itching of the eyes, the rest of the eye getting red, or excess blinking, etc...) then I do not know if I would do more than your current allergy regimen. An alternative that might be less expensive than Angel Eyes (which I think might help) would be a combination antibiotic and steroid eye ointment or drop that you can get from your veterinarian. While you tried eye medication before - perhaps talking to your vet for a different eye medication (there are tons that we use!) may be beneficial. Also the first medication was before you changed to the food that she is now on correct? It might help more now!

Does this help?

[greyhoundlover]

Thanks so much, Dr. Lee; that does help. I am going to take him to the vet again as you suggest, esp. since I realized last night his ear infection is back. That is probably from allergies, the vet thinks. His ears seemed to get better when I changed his food, but the eyes stayed the same, and yes, the drops were back on the raw diet. I think I said he doesn't scratch his eyes, but that was incorrect. He has been pawing them since I posted, which reminded me that he does that sometimes. My other grey who we've had for over 3 years has bad allergies and looked like she had mange when we got her. She had the worst looking coat, and after so much trial and error, our vet sent us to a dermatologist who skin tested her. She is allergic to everything and now gets 2 shots a week. So this with the new guy is nothing. I would like to get to the bottom of this. Thanks again for the professional opinion!

[Darkes84]

My Dog Conner has bad allergies but we've never experienced eye trouble. It first started with eye gunk, much like pink eye and redness in both eyes. After a few days of OTC drops the right eye has gotten better but now the left is worse. The clear -like film/skin around the inside if the eye,
Near and under the pupil is now black and inflamed just in the left eye. I have steroid pills, which do help but I hate giving them
To him.
I'm going to try and attach a pic.
Thanks for your help :-)

[hazelrunpack]

We never mess with eyes here, Darkes84--they're just too important! If you're seeing inflammation, a vet visit would be your best bet!

Good luck with Connor! I hope the vet can pinpoint the problem for you!

[rubyuby]

Originally Posted by Darkes84

My Dog Conner has bad allergies but we've never experienced eye trouble. It first started with eye gunk, much like pink eye and redness in both eyes. After a few days of OTC drops the right eye has gotten better but now the left is worse. The clear -like film/skin around the inside if the eye,
Near and under the pupil is now black and inflamed just in the left eye. I have steroid pills, which do help but I hate giving them
To him.
I'm going to try and attach a pic.
Thanks for your help :-)

my dog has the same thing
what should i do?

[kathryn]

Originally Posted by rubyuby

my dog has the same thing
what should i do?

I would make an appointment with your veterinarian and see what medications he or she would like to prescribe.

[Marty11]

I would suspect allergies. Although the canidae seems to be good food but what I remember it has mixed proteins and grains. You can't narrow food allergies with this. Try a limited ing diet such as fish and potatoe etc....go to "global" and stick with the diet for 10 weeks with no treats. Keep going till you eliminate foods that irritate. Gukkk in the ear is definately an allergy sign. Is your dog chewing his feet?

[rubyuby]

yes she has.